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Showing posts with label Pinkenba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pinkenba. Show all posts

Monday, August 11, 2014

Steam Train Sunday...

On the first Sunday of each month, the Railway Museum runs an excursion using the lovely old engines and rolling stock owned by the museum. Most Sundays during the year, DH plays golf, but on the first Sunday of August we both went on the excursion from Roma St to Pinkenba. Not a long trip...the round trip took just over an hour...and the journey passed through stations no longer operational as passenger trains no longer travel on that line.



When we arrived on Platform 10, this was the train waiting there...
Each carriage had an attendant  standing there at the door...

Not ours apparently! The tilt train heading off to Rockhampton was due to leave just before the steam train arrived back from its first trip of the day...
We waved goodbye to the passengers on the  the  tilt train!
 Here's another train arriving at Roma st Station...the city buildings loom in the background...

And here's 'our' train!

A massive water tender is a necessity I guess these days, as the big tanks of water at various larger stations/junctions are a thing of the past, so water has to be taken along.
 The lovely old carriages...

I love the timber work of these old carriages...and even the utilitarian luggage racks are beautiful!

Our journey to Pinkenba (which on the river and is situated downstream from the CBD) went via Bowen Hills and continued on to Eagle Junction where the line branched off on to the little used line to Pinkenba.
The next photo was taken as the train went through the Bowen Hills Railyards...the Ferny Grove train is on the elevated section of the line...

Suburbia...out near the suburb of Clayfield...


See! There is an Ascot in Brisbane as well as in the UK! The little Ascot Station...

And just like in the UK, we have a racecourse at Ascot...







The racecourse hosts popular Sunday markets...


The steam train attracted the attention of some of the market goers...

 Crossing Racecourse Rd...

Our journey takes us through the industrial areas, east of the CBD...

The line travels beside the large Army Supply Depot at Meeandah
 I believe this is just a small section of this depot...

There are still some port facilities at Pinkenba...


At Pinkenba, the line loops around on itself , so the train was then facing the right way for the return journey...
In some places on this little used line, the boom gates and related signals are not automatic...there was a man in a 'ute' (utility truck) who drove along the roads to the various level crossings to manually lower the boom gates...sometimes we had to wait for him to get to the level crossing...
 Being in the Pinkenba area meant we were close to Brisbane Airport...what a treat for a plane spotter fan like DH :-)

One of the old railway bridges on our journey...

 It was a lovely excursion and obviously very popular with young families as well as the older generation such as DH and myself! :-)